Right-hander Mike Pelfrey threw five shutout innings, and Josh Willingham’s two-run home run in the third inning sent the Red Wings on their way to a convincing 7-1 throttling of the RailRiders on Friday night at PNC Field.

“They had some other guys who kind of chipped in there too, so I wouldn’t say (Pelfrey and Willingham) were the only guys who helped,” RailRiders center fielder Antoan Richardson said. “For the most part, they played a pretty clean game. They hit a two-run home run and a three-run home run, and that’s the difference in the ballgame there.”

Friday’s game was never in serious doubt.

RailRiders starter Brian Gordon struggled to get ahead in counts and finish off hitters when he did. The Red Wings had scored seven times before the game hit its halfway point.

The second inning proved to be an omen for the RailRiders, who nearly watched Gordon avert disaster before pitching himself right back into it. Willingham ripped a double into the left-center field gap before Brad Nelson singled to right. But Gordon reached the precipice of escape when Wilkin Ramirez and Doug Bernier popped out.

It wasn’t meant to be.

Pedro Florimon, who entered the game with a .142 batting average, was walked on four pitches to load the bases. Gordon then passed Rohlfing, a .143 hitter, with the bases loaded to make it 1-0.

Free passes were the least of Gordon’s issues after that.

Willingham made it 3-0 in the third with a long homer into the Rochester bullpen, and in the fourth, Oswaldo Arcia lined a three-run blast onto the berm in right field. By the time he walked off the field for the final time, Gordon had allowed six runs on eight hits in four innings, issuing four walks, to boot.

“He’s a guy who when you play with him, you love him, and when you play against him, you might not like him as much,” Richardson said of Arcia, his former Rochester teammate from 2013. “He enjoys the game and he has fun playing it. ... I’ve seen him for quite a bit, and he looks really good. He’s going the other way with the ball, pulled a homer to right. He’s hitting the ball with power.”

Arcia’s RBI double in the fifth against reliever Mark Montgomery staked Rochester to a 7-0 lead, and the RailRiders barely made a threat as the game went on.

Pelfrey had dazzled them over the first four innings, working his sinker inside and out, scattering just four hits and never more than one in any inning. He didn’t strike anybody out, but he didn’t need to. The RailRiders didn’t make much solid contact until lefty Edgar Ibarra came in to relieve him in the sixth.

Ramon Flores launched his third homer of the season to right against Ibarra leading off the sixth, getting the RailRiders within 7-1, and Scott Sizemore followed with an infield single.

The RailRiders wouldn’t get another hit, and their lone baserunner came in the seventh, when Ibarra walked Richardson with one out.

Ibarra and right-hander Deolis Guerra helped the Red Wings end the game the way Pelfrey started it, by retiring each of the final eight RailRiders who came to the plate.

After taking three of four games from Pawtucket to conclude their road trip, the RailRiders haven’t been able to change their fortunes against a Red Wings team that has become a nemesis. Rochester has taken all five games it has played against the RailRiders so far this season, and the RailRiders are working to make sure the Red Wings don’t simply have their number.

“I don’t think anybody in here thinks that’s the case,” Richardson said. “We just have to come in here (today) and execute. That’s all it comes down to. They’ve just executed a little better. It’s nothing dramatic. We just have to be the team that comes out and executes the best.”

Contact the writer:

dcollins@timesshamrock.com, on Twitter @RailRidersTT

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